From St. Habib Girgis on His Feast Day

As a champion for Coptic education, St. Habib Girgis left a legacy that prioritized teaching, not only for the understanding the tenets of the faith but also to live and be fulfilled by them, exemplified through his own words:

“Teaching is neither the dictation of advice, nor of orders, nor of instruction; rather is the participation between the teacher and the child in a common spirit for knowledge. Therefore, it is the teacher’s duty not to dictate information or to hand out absolute orders to these children in their care, but they should provide them with the opportunity to discover everything on their own, and offer sufficient assistance to enable them to make these discoveries. Among the aims of this important theory of education are 1) to ensure that the child lives a virtuous life from an early age and to go beyond stating mere facts about to live; 2) to ensure that activity gives ride to vigor; 3) to combine learning with pleasure and happiness; and to read and harvest the results to deepen the effects of learnings on life; and 4) to ensure that the pleasure and happiness of the children ignite their inner desire for knowledge rather than mere facts provided for memorization.”